Advance Praise

“By breaking conservation down into dollars and cents, Mark Tercek shows that economic growth and environmental sustainability are not mutually exclusive goals. Nature’s Fortune takes a pragmatic approach to an important issue, and turns the conversation from ideology to arithmetic.”
—William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America

“Mark Tercek knows business and he knows the environment. We have worked together on both. This book shows us how we can bring them together to the benefit of nature and our economy.”
—Henry M. Paulson, Jr., former chief executive of Goldman Sachs and Treasury secretary, and chairman of the Paulson Institute

“In Nature’s Fortune, Mark Tercek and Jonathan Adams expertly articulate the interdependence of our economy and nature’s economy, and the practiced ways both can be saved in perpetuity.”
—Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University Research Professor, Emeritus, and author of The Social Conquest of Earth

“This is a critically important book that comes at just the right moment. The business community is coming to understand the value—and the necessity—of protecting the environment. Now, the environmental community needs to talk about nature using the language of business: assets, risks, and innovation. Nature’s Fortune is the guidebook that can move environmentalism to this next level.”
—Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, The Aspen Institute, and author of Steve Jobs

“In Nature’s Fortune, Mark Tercek tackles the environment with a banker’s eye and an outdoorsman’s heart. He makes a clear case for why protecting nature is the smartest investment we can make.”
—Ted Turner, Chairman, Turner Enterprises, Inc.

“If ever business and nature are going to realize their full potential to grow together, it will come about from the vision and perspectives that are contained in the pages of this book. A case like this could only be made by an author who has led passionately on both sides of the equation.”
– Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Dow Chemical Company

“This book makes plain as day why we need to stop taking nature’s gifts for granted. Its thoughtful solutions can underpin conservation goals with a powerful business logic. From an alarming premise, we are given reason to hope.”
– Chris Anderson, TED Curator

“Nature is essential for our human as well as our economic well-being. As someone who has lived in both worlds, Mark Tercek is well positioned to take us on a guided tour of the intersection between business and the environment. With clear examples, this timely book provides a road map for smart investments and new alliances to build a sustainable and prosperous future for people and planet. Bravo!!”
–Helene Gayle, President and CEO, CARE USA

“In this encouraging, intelligent book that comes none too soon, Mark Tercek and Jon Adams show that the corporate world ultimately can’t flourish unless the natural world does, too. Through stories equally compelling to entrepreneurs or environmentalists, CEOs or scientists, we see how Nature’s Fortune and our own are inextricable. If we conserve and nurture our planet’s gifts like any other crucial asset or investment, we profit — or, we squander them at our own peril. Happily, this book shows why we needn’t, ever.”
–Alan Weisman, author of The World Without Us and Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope on Earth

“Nature has long been recognized as a source of wealth, but we have yet to give natural capital the proper weight in economic decision making. In this timely book, Mark Tercek argues persuasively that investing in conservation and sustainable use can yield huge dividends for both people and the environment.”
— Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank

“In the 1970s environmentalists and business despised each other. In this century they are often close partners. The change was brought about by leaders like Mark Tercek. His book shows how prosperity is as dependent on clean rivers as on strong bridges (both are infrastructure). GMO crops can be as welcome as restoring wildlands, since they both contribute to a healthier planet.”
— Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline

“The cause of conservation in the twenty-first century desperately needs sharp, sophisticated, practical minds from the world of commerce. Mark Tercek’s is clearly among the best of them.”
— David Quammen, author of Spillover and The Song of the Dodo

“Mark Tercek argues with refreshing clarity and persuasiveness that we must recognize the substantial economic value in our scarce natural resources. I agree wholeheartedly that the ultimate allocation and use of these resources must be market-based, backed by wise regulation. Tercek makes his point with wonderful real-life examples and prodigious logic.”
— John Fahey, Chairman and CEO, National Geographic Society

“This is an important book for environmentalists, investment bankers, and everyone else. It presents a compelling case that investing in nature is a great deal—not just morally but economically as well. It is in all of our enlightened self-interest to take this book very seriously.”
— Morton Schapiro, Professor of Economics and President, Northwestern University

“There are probably more important reasons to protect the natural world, but as this book makes clear, it’s economic folly to keep wasting our one sweet planet. It’s worth infinitely more than economists have traditionally taught—infinitely more!”
— Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar, Middlebury College, and author of Eaarth

“Mark Tercek presents a timely argument for “valuing” nature that will be meaningful as much to business as to environmentalists. He demonstrates how this can work and why it is important, whether with water and forests high in the Andes, the floodplains of the Mississippi, fisheries off the California coast, or even in the dense centers of major cities. The result is a compelling “business case” for investment in nature that is also an agenda for action – and cooperation.”
— Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World

“In this telling work, Nature’s Fortune, Mark Tercek reveals how an investment banker becomes a conservationist and brings two seemingly incompatible worlds together with amazing grace and immense success!”
— Marshall Goldsmith is the million-selling author of the bestsellers, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, MOJO and Succession.

Innovative technology has become essential for success in the private sector. It’s time for environmentalists and those us the social sector to do everything we can to take advantage of these opportunities, too. And if we do—we might just save the planet.

America has a $3.6 trillion infrastructure problem—but no clear solution. "Green infrastructure" can often provide the same services as traditional manmade structures at less cost with bonus benefits for the environment.